The present invention relates to a frame assembly which provides an electrical bond surface for a component installed on an opposite side of a screened mesh composite panel.
External electromagnetic fields, referred to as EMI effects, can disrupt the operation of on board electronic components through generation of unwanted voltage and current fluctuations in the wiring. These EMI effects may potentially damage the electronic components.
A common method of mitigating the potential damage from EMI effects is to place a continuous conductive shield around the electronic components which may be at risk. Often a metallic outer skin of the aircraft operates as such a shield. However, portions of an aircraft skin are often manufactured from composite materials which are relatively poor conductors and are not effective shields against EMI effects. The composite material thereby often incorporate a metallic conductive layer or wire mesh as part of the composite skin panel to operate as a conductor and form at least a portion of an aircraft electrical ground plane.
On some aircraft, the aircraft composite skin may mount various antennas. For the antenna to achieve proper performance, a conductive path between the antenna and the metallic conductive layer is required. The conductive path between the antenna and the metallic conductive layer may be conventionally provided by a bond strap or other procedure.
One procedure utilizes aluminum tape affixed to the exposed screen mesh on an interior surface of the composite panel and wrapped around the circumference of the antenna mount opening to an exterior surface. The antenna is then mounted on the exterior surface of composite panel and in contact with the aluminum tape to provide communication with the aircraft electrical ground plane.
Although effective, each piece of aluminum tape must be laboriously cut and applied which may induce variability in the application. Each piece of tape must also be edge sealed to reduce the likelihood of any portions of the tape peeling away from the contacting surfaces and minimize moisture communication under the tape. Disadvantageously, even when consistently applied, the aluminum tape may not provide a consistent electrical connection while the degree of electrical conductivity is dependent on the area of surface contact through the adhesive side of the tape which is for the most part non-conductive.